Also, when I tour one of my occupied units and my tenant has decorated with good taste, I will ask if I can take a few photos to use later down the line.

The 6 months that you are waiting for the refi should give you a taste of what it is like being a landlord.  

After that awesome experience, I lost my taste for real estate investing for the next 3.5 years.  

I'd go with neutral only if the colors you chose in specific rooms were very eclectic, difficult to match to a wide range of furniture, and might be  a turnoff to a wide range of renters tastes.

You want to keep it neutral so it goes with everyone's furniture and taste.

Hi all,My name is Mark Anthon.This will be my first taste of real estate buying and holding.I'm currently looking at a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath townhouse condo:Beds3 BedHouse Size1,246 Sq FtPrice $149,900Condo/townhouseBaths1 Full, 1 Half BathPrice/sqft $120Year Built1977 6 roomsFireplace2 parking spaceit comes with private trash pickup, pool, and basketball courtsAverage listing price for similar homes $229,794 Average sale price for similar homes $147,173 if i'm following the 2% rule, I can roughly get out a $2.9K (or a little lower) rent out of this. 

One of those risks is a bit much for my taste, but two is simply too much.Take your extra 25k, and put that into an additional property.

Some snippets:...our office remains skeptical that all of the shift into rental is permanent, even from a taste or preference stand point.

Because like he said: "we needed to start learning to make commitments and stick to them".That kind of left a sour taste in my mouth.

Greater Everett, some people seem to be making money in Tacoma, but it's generally a pretty rough area for my tastes.